The best news I've heard in a while
The Me of 10 years ago would be shocked. During a week that sees the release of two new Robert Pollard records, I'm relatively unimpressed with the knowledge that new Pollard wax is imminent (though I will make the trip to the record store tomorrow to pick up both discs) and thoroughly excited by the posting of two tracks from the forthcoming album by a band that, in what may be moments of total clarity, I sometimes think might be the greatest rock outfit of all time.
You see, 10 years ago GBV was, to me, the be-all, end-all of rock. Even following the now infamous "dumping" of the "original" lineup of GBV following the Under the Bushes Under the Stars tour and the subsequent formation of the much-maligned "Guided by Verde," in 1997 Mag Earwhig! proved GBV was still tops. That year, a GBV concert was still an event, and few live acts connected with their audience like Pollard and the boys did back then. If you don't believe me, you never heard the band rip through "Little Lines" or "Psychic Pilot Clocks Out" during their shows that year (or you were too drunk/not drunk enough when you did hear them).
But the years have passed, and while Alien Lanes is still one of my three favorite records and I'm fully aware of how lucky I was to live in Ohio in the mid- to late-90's and see GBV 20+ times, I now realize that GBV wasn't the only band from Ohio that seemed to distill all Rock into something wholly original, unique, and universally good. All the while, GBV's former labelmates (and, in one sense, boss), Prisonshake were kicking it just as well.
Interesting how these things work. I first was alerted to Scat Records because the first GBV record I bought (the "I Am A Scientist" single) was on Scat. The discovery of Robert Griffin's then Cleveland-based label in turn introduced me to Griffin's band, Prisonshake. And while I was around to witness and revel in most of GBV's "glory" years, I had pretty much completely missed the Prisonshake ship. I've never seen the 'Shake live, and by the time I got into them about 12 years ago, all of their "major" releases had already hit the proverbial shelves. Since then, we've only very occasionally been treated to the assorted single or compilation appearance.
All that's about to change, though. Rumblings about a new Prisonshake LP have been growing more frequent and louder the past year or so, and recently Griffin announced that the new record, Dirty Moons, is completed and set for release in Spring '08 (with a single to serve as an appetizer in a few months). Even better yet, they're streaming the first two songs from the album. The first, "Fake Your Own Death," is reminiscent of Prisonshake's more "experimental," brilliantly-rambling stuff, sorta like a polished, "hi-fi" track off of the cassette from the I'm Really Fucked Now set. The second, "I Will Follow" is out of the 'Shake's flat-out rock vein, complete with the trademarked Griffin/Enkler invaluable words of wisdom (e.g., "And no one here's got answers, but what did you expect?"), hot guitar leads, and sensible track phasing.
Prisonshake's always done things their own way, and you often can't pin them down (except, perhaps, by just saying they're genuinely great). Over the years I've gradually assembled copies of almost their entire back catalog, and so I can guarantee that from the "Fairfield Avenue Serenade" single to the versions of "The Leftover Monkey" and "Crush Me" on the Scat Semi-Annual Report CD from '97, Prisonshake has been consistently mind-blowing. So, while I'll enjoy listening to the new Pollard records over the coming months, I'll be doing it while anticipating the day I can get a copy of Dirty Moons.
